Job Seekers: Why You Should Be Taking Advantage of Facebook

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Dec. 14, 2011, 10:15 AM

By Mona Abdel-Halim If you think that Facebook is a social networking tool designated specifically for use in one's personal life, you might want to reconsider your stance. According to an infographic created by MBA Online, 18,400,000 Americans say that Facebook got them their current job. The results of this survey may come as a shock to those loyal to LinkedIn. Surprisingly, far fewer Americans (10,200,000) say that LinkedIn landed them their current job.

If your Facebook account is blocked to the public, you should consider revamping your page for professional use before opening up access. If you've had an account for years and have been using the networking site for purely social reasons, it might take a bit of effort to clean up your content.

Once you've made your page easily accessible to prospective employers and colleagues, you must continue to constantly monitor your page for professional content. This may sound like a lot of work, but in today's world, you cannot avoid Facebook. You might as well embrace it, because your Facebook page will undoubtedly be one of the first sites that recruiters will visit to learn more about you.

According to the infographic, survey says that 84 percent of users are "super social" on their Facebook pages (as opposed to 35 percent on LinkedIn). Just because you are keeping your page completely professional doesn't mean that you can't remain active on the network. The information sharing freedom that Facebook allows its users is one of the top reasons why job seekers shouldn't ignore this tool as a communication tool in their job search.

While pictures from your latest party are not considered appropriate content, if you wish to keep your profile professional, links to your industry's latest news would be great information to share. If you post relevant and professional content or opinions and links to the latest news, prospective employers will see that you are staying informed while unemployed.

How have you used Facebook in your job search? Leave us your stories in the comments.

Mona Abdel-Halim is the co-founder of Resunate.com, the world's only search engine optimizing resume builder. You can find Mona and Resunate on Facebook and Twitter.